Eostara, Easter, and egg salad

Today’s muse was about the simple pleasure of egg salad sandwiches the week after Easter. I wrote that on my other blog, All Things Anne Wondra. And then I got to thinking, it might be interesting if I share a little about Easter and Eostara with you here.

My background is in religious studies, from an academic standpoint and a life one. I grew up catholic and was raised on a farm–so both the traditions of the church and nature-based ones are part of me.

Easter comes out of my catholic / christian background and celebrates the resurrection from death of a man named Jesus…a great, beautiful, insightful, compassionate guy whose words and actions got him in trouble (made waves) with both the religious and the political leaders–so much so that they joined together to get him out of the way (i.e. kill him). Somehow, though, his life continued…and that’s what’s celebrated on Easter Sunday.

Now about Eostara, from a resource called, The Grandmother of Time:

“Eostara was the German goddess of rebirth who invented nature regenerating, and all of us along with her. Hers are the first signs of spring–the colorful Easter eggs, the hopping bunnies–all fertility symbols. Cook a great meal in her honor, for this season is for rejoicing in the abundance of the Earth. Eostara is the goddess whose festival is Spring Equinox, and whose name gave us our (Germanized) term Easter. Later, this day was Christianized and associated with the resurrection of Jesus instead of that of the Earth.”

Every wonder why the date of Easter moves around so much? It’s because Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon in Spring. And Spring begins with the Spring Equinox.

Now you know a bit about both.

RE-PURPOSING and retelling of stories has been done for a long time. We are given inspirations and insights based on experiences and new information; and our understandings evolve, and are sometimes recast.

WE CAN do that with our own life stories too. We can tell them in a way that celebrates accomplishments and the beautiful beings we have become. Spring is all about re-birthing, re-freshing, coloring life.